Sunday, July 9, 2023

Just

This week we begin worship with:

Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!

The American way is self-made and self-sufficient.  We are told to look for solutions within ourselves.  This verse, however, corrects that notion.

Naomi had a kinsman redeemer.  Boas came to her rescue after the loss of both her husband and her sons.  Without them, she and Ruth had been reduced to gleaning to survive.

Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”

We too need a redeemer.  But we are not simply poor, we are guilty and stand accused.  We need someone to plead our case.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. 

Our redeemer must argue, on our behalf, that sin can only be punished once.  

1 John 1:9 
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

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